自然科学研究機構 分子科学研究所の杉本泰伸研究員、理化学研究所の水流翔太特別研究員、分子科学研究所／総合研究大学院大学の長坂将成助教らは、室温（25℃）の水溶液中にあるミオグロビンについて、ヘムの鉄イオンのスピン状態を軟X線吸収分光で観測することに成功した。ポルフィリン環の窒素の吸収端を使い、タンパク質本体のポリペプチド鎖に含まれる大量の窒素に埋もれずにC=N π*ピークを取り出せた。酸素が結合したオキシ型は低スピン（S=0）、酸素が外れたデオキシ型はS=2とS=1、鉄が3価になったメト型はS=5/2とS=3/2が混ざった平衡状態だった。論文はPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics誌に2026年8月24日オンライン掲載、発表は9月7日。
NASAの火星探査車キュリオシティが2024年5月30日にゲール・クレーターのゲディズ・バリス水路で車輪で割った石の中から、黄色い結晶が見つかった。X線分光装置APXSの分析で、硫酸塩や硫化物ではなく単体の硫黄（自然硫黄）と確認された。火星で単体の硫黄が確認されたのは初めて。ワシントン大学（セントルイス）のスコット・ヴァンボメル氏ら14人の論文はScience誌に2026年6月28日にオンライン掲載、8月20日号の表紙になった。硫黄の主な供給源はマグマの蒸気で、地下の凍った層で冷えて固まり、水路の侵食で圧力が下がって放出されたと提案している。
米サウスダコタ州の地下約1.5kmにある暗黒物質探索実験LUX-ZEPLIN（LZ）は2026年9月1日、2023年3月から2024年4月までの220日分のデータの中に、既知の背景では説明しにくい原子核の反跳イベントが1回あったと発表した。反跳エネルギーは248±23（統計）±23（系統）keV。背景だけで説明できる確率は0.5%程度（2.6σ）で、素粒子物理で「発見」とされる5σには届かない。もし暗黒物質なら質量は陽子の200倍以上。研究チームは「暗黒物質を見たとは主張しない」と明言している。
2026年7月28日16時27分、熊本県熊本地方の深さ16kmでマグニチュード7.1（暫定値）の地震が起き、宇城市と氷川町で震度7を観測した。気象庁はこの地震と一連の活動を「令和8年熊本地震」と名付けた。震度1以上の地震は7月28日の16時から24時までに194回、29日に144回、30日に62回と減り、8月下旬には1日数回、9月4日9時までの累計は747回。気象庁は9月1日の発表で、揺れの強かった地域では今後3〜4週間、最大震度5弱程度以上の地震に注意が必要としている。
The Japan Meteorological Agency's summary of "Summer 2026 (June–August) Weather," published on September 1, 2026. The difference from average summer temperatures was +1.2°C in Northern Japan, +0.8°C in Eastern Japan, +1.2°C in Western Japan, and 0.0°C in Okinawa/Amami. In Western Japan, the average temperatures for mid-July, late July, and late August were the highest since records began in 1946. In the Kanto-Koshin region, precipitation reached 141% of average due to typhoons and torrential rain.
NASA's X-ray polarization observatory IXPE observed the magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408 for more than 140 hours and found an abnormally high level of X-ray polarization, about three times that of similar objects. It is considered the strongest evidence in 90 years for vacuum birefringence, predicted by Heisenberg in 1936.
Mars's southern hemisphere mantle is 200–400°C hotter than the northern hemisphere, and part of it may be molten, according to an analysis of 16 years of radio tracking data from three NASA orbiters.
Institute of Science Tokyo announced a method for directly producing BNFO, a material that shrinks when heated, from a raw material that, like glass, has no crystal structure. The conventional multi-step reaction at about 950°C now crystallizes at 750°C in under a minute, and particle size also decreased from about 15 to about 5 micrometers.
BiNi1-xFexO3
On August 30, 2026, NASA launched the Roman Space Telescope, an infrared telescope with a field of view at least 100 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope. It will be used going forward to help clarify dark matter and dark energy and to search for exoplanets.
On August 27, 2026, ESA released an image of the irregular galaxy Arp 263 (about 25 million light-years away), captured by the Webb Space Telescope. Misalignment between the galaxy's stars and gas suggests it is the trace of a past galaxy merger.
On August 26, 2026, RIKEN and Nagoya University announced a method for synthesizing complex nanographene in just two reaction steps. Molecules with 8 to 10 fused rings can be produced with structures ranging from flat to curved.
On August 25, 2026, the University of Tokyo and others announced that the record marine heatwave of 2024 caused coral bleaching nationwide, from Okinawa to Honshu. Coral that had spread northward was also affected, indicating that temperate waters may not serve as a 'refuge.'
On August 25, 2026, NASA announced that its exoplanet-exploring satellite Pandora had begun scientific observations. Over one year, it plans to observe at least 20 exoplanets, each 10 times for 24 hours per observation.
NAOJ and others announced the fortuitous discovery of Comet Neujmin in archived Subaru Telescope images. Observed in a configuration receiving sunlight almost directly from the front (0.33-degree phase angle), the comet reflected light more strongly than an asteroid would.
On August 24, 2026, the ALMA telescope announced that a hot spot on the surface of Betelgeuse has remained in the same location for over 7 years. The average surface temperature was about 2,300 K, with the hot spot up to 800 K hotter.
A KAIST research team controlled the thickness and structure of an ultra-thin polymer coating, increasing the heat-transfer efficiency of water vapor condensing back into water to up to 5.5 times that of a copper surface. The heat transfer coefficient reached up to 88 kW·m⁻²·K⁻¹.
As of 15:00 on August 23, Typhoons No. 18, No. 19, and No. 20 existed simultaneously. The strongest, No. 18, had a central pressure of 950hPa and maximum wind speed near the center of 45m/s. A linear precipitation band was forecast for the Yaeyama region toward the evening of the 23rd.
The upper stage of a Falcon 9 launched in January 2025 collided with the lunar surface on August 5, 2026. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the impact site on August 11.
CD4-positive killer T cells, which remain rare through the 90s, increase markedly after age 100. Although clonally derived, their function was diverse and showed no signs of exhaustion.
Even when HDL cholesterol values were the same, patients with lower ability to recover excess cholesterol from blood vessels had larger, more dangerous plaques. Confirmed using a new cell-free measurement method.
By combining silver nanowires with a conductive polymer, researchers developed a water-resistant transparent conductive film about 200 nanometers thick. It can simultaneously record brain activity and observe blood vessels.
By applying strain to a nickel oxide thin film, researchers observed both ambient-pressure and ultra-high-pressure superconductivity in the same sample. The transition temperature rose from about 40K to a maximum of 73K.
By embedding a single atomic layer of iron selenide within another crystal, researchers achieved performance previously obtainable only in thin films within a bulk material. Thermoelectric performance reached about 100 times that of bulk iron selenide.
TlFe1.6Se2
On August 21, 2026, the University of Tsukuba and others announced the mechanism of a 'seasonal meter' by which plants predict the flowering season from temperature memory. In wasabi and Arabidopsis halleri, three genes carried temperature memories of different lengths: a few days, several weeks, and about 5 months.
JAXA announced on August 20, 2026, that it will launch H3 Rocket No. 10, carrying the Martian moons explorer MMX, on October 20 at 4:41. MMX plans to bring back more than 10g of samples from Phobos.
On August 20, 2026, the University of Tokyo and others announced that they observed electron-beam interference fringes by treating two adjacent atoms in a silicon crystal as a 'double slit.' The slit spacing, 136 pm, was about 7 orders of magnitude smaller than in Young's experiment.
The team developed a fluorescent technology that simultaneously observes iron and oxygen within cells, and used it to confirm cell-by-cell differences in a living mouse liver.
Fe
Institute of Science Tokyo announced a technology that switches chirality by electrically inserting and removing chiral molecules from a semiconductor. The ability to select spin orientation reached about 99%.
On August 10, 2026, RIKEN and others announced that the reconstruction of DNA's three-dimensional structure within the cell nucleus governs the initiation of DNA replication. By increasing and decreasing the protein GINS4, the team confirmed the relationship between the degree of structural recovery and the timing of replication initiation.
Institute of Science Tokyo announced a method for culturing intestinal organoids using collagen and the peptide molecule PG-008. It achieved about an 80% success rate even with cells from ulcerative colitis patients.
Institute of Science Tokyo announced the role of 'Paneth cell metaplasia,' which appears in the colon of ulcerative colitis patients. IL-22 triggers it, and REG3A then helps repair wounds.
Institute of Science Tokyo clarified the cause of a phenomenon in which a non-chiral crystal's response to light differs depending on polarization. The difference reached about 1,000 times that of typical chiral molecules.
The virus that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease kept multiplying for 14 days inside an 'intestine chip' that reproduces the human intestine, yet the cells were barely destroyed. The immune response also remained weak.
Researchers succeeded for the first time in the world in transplanting the gene cluster that produces the sulfated polysaccharide synechan from a photosynthetic cyanobacterium into a different cyanobacterium and making it functional. There had previously been no example of an entire complex synthesis system on the cell membrane being transferred to a different species.
Applying strong bite forces to mice with periodontal disease was found to activate genes that promote inflammation and bone destruction. This is the first study to comprehensively examine the effects of occlusal trauma at the genetic level.
Japan had approximately 347,000 dialysis patients as of the end of 2022, with annual medical costs exceeding ¥1 trillion. The leading cause is diabetic nephropathy. This piece explains the kidneys' blood-filtering function and research on their 'anti-aging.'
The special exhibition 'Mass Extinction Exhibition — The Big Five of Life's History' is being held at the Osaka Museum of Natural History until October 12, 2026. It traces the five mass extinctions in Earth's history through evidence preserved in fossils and rocks.
The Swift satellite, which has observed gamma-ray bursts since 2004, faces the risk of atmospheric reentry due to declining altitude. NASA is spending about $30 million on a first-ever mission to dock another spacecraft with it and push its orbit back up.
Observations by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes have found a black hole with a mass about 4.46 times that of the Sun in the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way galaxy.
Prompted by a special exhibition at the Omogo Mountain Museum in Ehime, this piece considers the 'strategies of defense and predation' seen in venom, spines, and mimicry from an evolutionary perspective.
Awa bancha, a tea handed down in the mountains of Tokushima, is a 'post-fermented tea' that is rare even by world standards, made by fermenting tea leaves with lactic acid bacteria. It offers a way to learn about microorganisms and food science through the familiar phenomenon of fermentation.
C3H6O3
A research team at Hokkaido University's Institute for Catalysis has succeeded in synthesizing an alloy material that had been considered difficult to synthesize under conventional theory. Application as a new catalyst that converts CO2 into chemical feedstock is expected.
On July 5, JAXA's spacecraft Hayabusa2 succeeded in an 'ultra-close flyby,' observing the asteroid Tori-Fune while passing by it at about 5 km per second.
Evidence has been found that the supermassive black hole 'Sagittarius A*' at the center of our galaxy has been emitting a flow of gas (outflow) for at least 20,000 years.
Expanding renewable energy to stop climate change can, depending on how it is implemented, damage ecosystems. The two environmental crises are interconnected, and approaches that benefit both are needed.
US EPA announces proposed rule to newly monitor 30 PFAS substances in tap water.
Mechanism of the photoprotective protein that shields diatoms from strong light clarified.
New method developed to cleanly oxidize alcohol using electricity and waste heat.
C2H6O2
Discovery of an unexpected immune cell function supporting mRNA cancer vaccines.
A frog's gut bacteria completely cures colorectal cancer in mice with a single dose.
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